The key for Byron Nelson is simple: depth. The Bobcats have it everywhere.

Their top three attackers all have 246 kills or more, and on the defensive side, they have three players with more than 200 digs. Some high schools rely on just one setter, but Byron Nelson rolls out two with 373 assists or more.

The numbers are eye-popping, right down to the 26-1 record, and this type of excellence is nothing new for the Bobcats — three years ago, they went 50-2, beating teams from Hawaii and California on their way to winning a state championship.

After a 19-20 campaign last season, the addition of freshman Kylie Kleckner and her team-leading 263 kills has given Bryon Nelson another option in the attack, with senior Samantha Hoppes and sophomore Sydnee Peterson contributing 250 and 246 kills, respectively.

Kleckner and Peterson, both outside hitters, chip in defensively with 215 and 207 digs, respectively. Senior Campbell Love leads the way with 286 digs.

Setters Anna Koster and Keatyn Rodgers key the attack with 443 and 373 assists, respectively.

Thanks to those varied contributions, Byron Nelson has risen two spots to No. 4 in this week’s Just Women’s Sports volleyball team rankings, and the team hopes to keep clicking on all cylinders with district play beginning Friday.

Check out the complete rankings below, and click here to see last week’s rankings.

1. Cathedral Catholic (Calif.), 11-0

The Dons haven’t dropped a set this season, winning the Kamehameha Volleyball Tournament this past weekend in Hawaii.

2. Bloomfield Hills Marian (Mich.), 16-0

The Mustangs have won 69 of their last 70 matches and are seeking a third consecutive state championship.

3. Wayzata (Minn.), 4-0

The Trojans continue to dominate their opposition and are approaching 60 consecutive wins.

4. Byron Nelson (Texas), 26-1

The Bobcats have a chance to avenge their sole loss of the season Friday when they face Southlake Carroll.

Senior night fun! Thank you girls and families for everything you have given back during your 4 years in our program. We can’t wait to see what you do next! 💙🖤🤍 #BNVB pic.twitter.com/7fS7TpSBTT

— BNVB Booster Club (@BnvbClub) September 1, 2022

5. Blue Valley North (Kan.), 6-0

Down 21-16 in the decisive third set, Blue Valley North rallied to win 18-25, 25-22, 25-23 on Tuesday to maintain an unbeaten start to its season.

6. Westminster Christian (Fla.), 9-0

The Warriors have advanced to three consecutive Class 3A state championship matches, losing each time. They hope this year will be different and received a major confidence boost this past weekend, beating No. 10 Cornerstone Christian to win a national tournament.

7. Dike-New Hartford (Iowa), 16-1

It’s tough to stop the Wolverines’ 1-2 punch of twins Payton and Jaydn Peterson, who have 254 kills between them. They also have Madelyn Norton, whose 319 assists is second in the state.

8. Prestonwood Christian (Texas), 23-1

The youthful Lions have sophomores leading the team in kills (Macaria Spears, 230) and digs (Gillian Pitts, 265) and a junior leading in assists (Camille Edwards, 309).

9. McCutcheon (Ind.), 11-1

Senior Chloe Chicoine, the No. 2 recruit in the JWS volleyball high school player rankings, is averaging 6.2 kills per set on a .394 hitting percentage. Her 155 kills have helped the Mavericks bounce back from an early-season loss.

10. Cornerstone Christian (Texas), 37-2

The Warriors knocked off No. 16 Santa Fe to advance to the championship of a national tournament in Florida but were unable to take first, falling to Westminster Christian out of Miami.

11. Cleveland (Tenn.), 23-1

Sisters Addison Hurst and Lauren Hurst are first and second, respectively, in kills and digs for the Blue Raiders. Addison, a senior, has 288 kills and 169 digs, while Lauren, a sophomore, has 241 kills and 145 digs.

12. Assumption (Ky.), 11-0

The Rockets have put together a demanding schedule against top in-state and national competition, and it only gets tougher with a matchup against perennial California power Mater Dei next week.

Assumption volleyball stays undefeated against a comeback rally from a tough Mercy squad. @RocketSportsAHS @MercyAcademyJaghttps://t.co/kDUEfyBGxi pic.twitter.com/3pLDEdAkQ2

— Sam Upshaw Jr. (@CJ_Upshot) September 7, 2022

13. Highland Park (Texas), 25-2

The Scots have bounced back from a loss to Prestonwood Christian with three consecutive sweeps.

14. Tompkins (Texas), 23-3

Cindy Tchouangwa is nearing 300 kills on the season with more than a month of regular-season play remaining.

15. Mira Costa (Calif.), 10-2

The Mustangs picked up a big win over reigning state champions Marymount.

16. Santa Fe (Fla.), 9-1

The Raiders fell to Cornerstone Christian but otherwise acquitted themselves nicely, winning six of seven matches in a highly competitive tournament atmosphere.

17. Fayetteville (Ark.), 4-0

Brooke Rockwell is averaging over 4.5 kills per set as the Bulldogs remain unblemished. They haven’t dropped a single set through their first four matches.

18. St. James Academy (Kan.), 6-0

At one point last decade, St. James had won nine state titles in the last 11 seasons. Now, the Thunder are looking to win their first championship since 2018.

19. North Allegheny (Pa.), 3-0

The five-time defending state champions have picked up right where they left off, defeating last year’s state semifinalists Shaler in straight sets Tuesday to improve to 3-0.

Girls Volleyball Recap: @nagirlsvb tops Shaler Titans in WPIAL title game rematch, 3-0.

🔗- https://t.co/Ol9xBFH5Uf pic.twitter.com/Uy7kqgOGxV

— NATigers (@NATigerAthletic) September 7, 2022

20. Alpharetta (Ga.), 20-3

The Raiders are fueled by a balanced attack of three players with more than 100 kills.

21. Conroe (Texas), 33-1

The Tigers bounced back from a straight-set loss to The Woodlands with a sweep on Tuesday.

22. Mother McAuley (Ill.), 8-0

The Mighty Macs enjoyed a week of rest before tournament play this weekend.

23. Skutt Catholic (Neb.), 9-3

The Skyhawks tested themselves against top competition this past weekend and came out looking rosy, beating previously-ranked Buford and Bishop Gorman.

24. Sierra Canyon (Calif.), 14-2

The Trailblazers suffered a four-set loss Saturday but bounced back by sweeping Marymount.

25. Marymount (Calif.), 4-2

The Sailors have hit a rough patch, losing consecutive matches for the first time in nearly three years.

Phillip Suitts is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports. He has worked at a variety of outlets, including The Palm Beach Post and Southeast Missourian, and done a little bit of everything from reporting to editing to running social media accounts. He was born in Atlanta but currently lives in wintry Philadelphia. Follow Phillip on Twitter @PhillipSuitts.

Wisconsin volleyball is off to the attendance races, with the No. 7 college squad averaging 8,620 fans per match this season to become this NCAA's best-attended program — narrowly beating Big Ten rival No. 1 Nebraska's 8,602 current average.

Other than the Badgers and Cornhuskers, no other college volleyball team has surpassed 6,000 fans per match this year, but Wisconsin is well on track to surpass even their own dominant attendance history in the sport.

If they finish the season in the top attendance spot, the Badgers will snap a six season streak logging the second-best average crowds per year.

Even more, Wisconsin is on their way to blasting through their program-best mark, set when 7,761 fans per match filled the bleachers in 2022.

The growing demand for Badger volleyball is also translating into significant revenue boosts for school.

"We're really, really excited; we're going to exceed $2 million in volleyball ticket sales for the first time ever," Wisconsin deputy athletic director Mitchell Pinta told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel earlier this week. "And we're largely sold out for the rest of our matches at the Field House for the remainder of the season."

Should the Badgers reach that $2 million mark, they will see a massive 25% increase over the $1.6 million the team garnered just two seasons ago, and a near 18-fold growth from the $111,809 in volleyball ticket sales that Wisconsin logged in 2013.

Ultimately, the sky's the limit for both Wisconsin volleyball — and the sport at-large.

"If there's a saturation point on the demand for Wisconsin volleyball, we certainly have not seen it yet," said Pinta.

How to watch Wisconsin volleyball in action

With conference play kicking off this weekend, No. 7 Wisconsin will host unranked Big Ten foe Rutgers at 8 PM ET on Friday, before paying a visit to also-unranked Iowa at 3 PM ET on Sunday.

Both Big Ten battles will stream live on B1G+.

WSL side Liverpool opened their 2025/26 League Cup campaign with an emotional 5-0 win over WSL2 club Sunderland on Wednesday, dedicating the shutout victory to former manager Matt Beard after the 47-year-old's sudden passing last Saturday.

The match marked the Reds' return to the pitch following the postponement of their Sunday regular-season game against Aston Villa due to Beard's passing.

"It's a good win for Matt. We played with a lot of emotion," Liverpool defender Jenna Clark said afterwards, calling Wednesday "a really emotional night and an emotional few days for everyone involved with the club."

"We have pulled through together as a team the best we could and you saw that on the pitch tonight," Clark added.

Beard won back-to-back WSL titles with Liverpool in 2013 and 2014, departing the Reds in 2015 for a two-year stint with the NWSL's Boston Breakers.

He made his return to Liverpool in 2021, lifting the club back into the top-flight WSL by earning promotion his first season back at the helm.

"Matt will leave a huge void in the women's game," USWNT head coach and former Chelsea boss Emma Hayes said in a statement earlier this week. "He was one of a kind, and his loss will be felt by all. My heart goes out to his family, but I want to take the time to acknowledge what a special man he really was."​

How to watch Liverpool this weekend

Liverpool will continue their 2025/26 WSL campaign against Manchester United this Sunday, kicking off live at 7 AM ET on ESPN+.

The 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup culminates on Saturday, when host nation England battles for their first tournament title in more than a decade in a top-tier final against Canada, who are hunting their first-ever world championship trophy.

The Red Roses' long dominance on the Rugby World Cup pitch has led them to eight finals in the competition's nine editions, with England emerging victorious twice — in 1994 and 2014.

On the other hand, Canada will make just their second-ever appearance in the World Cup final this Saturday, as the Maple Leafs aim for a decidedly different outcome from their 21-9 loss to England in the 2014 championship game.

The top-ranked Red Roses will also be looking to avenge their narrow 34-31 loss to New Zealand in the tournament's most recent 2022 edition when they square off against No. 2 Canada in front of an sold-out crowd inside London's Twickenham Stadium — with another women's rugby attendance record on the line.

"You feed off of that energy, especially knowing what this game is going to be," England defense coach Sarah Hunter said. "It's a cliché, but [the crowd] almost becomes the 16th person in those moments where you need them."

How to watch the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup final

England and Canada will battle in the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup final at 11 AM ET on Saturday, with live coverage airing on Paramount+.

While the No. 1 Kansas City Current have officially run away with the 2025 NWSL Shield, the race for top playoff seeding rages on, as the No. 2 Washington Spirit fights to hold their ground against an unpredictable No. 9 Houston Dash this Sunday.

Bolstered by star Trinity Rodman's return from injury, the Spirit enter the weekend on a nine-game unbeaten streak, going up against a motivated Dash side sitting just two points outside of postseason contention.

"Every game we just need to be a lot more clinical in the final third," Rodman said after last weekend's 2-2 draw with No. 11 Angel City. "We're doing all the hard stuff and then it's [lacking] quality at the end."

Washington isn't without top-table challengers, with No. 3 Gotham FC riding their own five-game unbeaten streak into a Friday night match against the No. 4 Portland Thorns, who sit tied for points with both the Bats and the No. 5 San Diego Wave in the NWSL standings.

"At this stage, almost everyone still has a real chance to make the playoffs, which is great for the league," said Gotham manager Juan Carlos Amorós after the Bats' 1-1 draw with Bay FC last Sunday. "But it also means nothing can be taken for granted."

How to watch the Washington Spirit and Gotham FC this weekend

No. 3 Gotham FC kicks off this weekend's NWSL action when they host the No. 4 Portland Thorns at 8 PM ET on Friday, with live coverage on NWSL+.

Then in Sunday's NWSL action, the No. 9 Houston Dash will visit the No. 2 Washington Spirit at 1 PM ET, airing live on Paramount+.